Dear Reader,

Even as Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry head to the assembly polls on April 9, the day after tomorrow, a ground report from Duliajan, in Assam, focuses on an important constituency of voters — tea garden workers, largely from Adivasi communities — who are politically touted but are structurally neglected. With influence over nearly 40 of the 126 seats, they have once again become significant and critical to electoral mobilisation, drawing promises of money, wage hikes, and land rights, as voting day nears.

But, as मैं भी भारत documents, with voices from the ground, the lived reality diverges starkly from political assurances. Through on-ground interviews, the report reveals how tea garden workers remain trapped in conditions reminiscent of a century ago, with essentials of dignified living absent. Families earning meagre daily wages struggle without reliable electricity, healthcare access, or safe connectivity; even a basic bridge is missing, forcing villagers to risk their lives crossing streams for school or emergencies. Generations have lived on company land without ownership rights, exposing the hollowness of “land entitlement” claims. Housing improvements under welfare schemes exist, but only marginally alter the broader deprivation. The narrative underscores a deeper structural failure: industries that generate immense wealth have not translated prosperity to their labour force.

The war in Iran is now affecting India, especially its most vulnerable — daily wage workers. In a report from Noida and Delhi, The Red Mike reveals how the thin veneer of urban prosperity has disappeared. This exposes a humanitarian crisis. For migrant labourers, already burdened by irregular employment and rising costs, the Middle East conflict brings a new low. Severe LPG shortages have driven fuel prices up.

As factories scale back operations hit by supply chain disruptions, labour markets have turned into scenes of despair, where men turn to idle pastimes to distract themselves from a lack of livelihood and persistent hunger. The “chhotu” five-kg cylinders, promoted by the government as an affordable solution for the poor, remain an illusion as the grey market price is far beyond the reach of workers who have not found steady employment for months. This report exposes a stark reality̦ that while official narratives insist there is no scarcity, real prices tell a different story, leaving millions of families caught between a distant war and an immediate, gnawing struggle for survival.

In 2023, violent ethnic conflict in Manipur created a new group of migrants — the state’s own internally displaced. Many moved to Delhi in search of work and better incomes. The reception was far from ecstatic. The Migration Story reports that jobs came in cafés, salons, and small retail spaces. These jobs are informal, low-paid, and insecure. Settling in Munirka, a known hub for North-East migrants, their lives became a cycle of long hours, shared rooms, and fragile incomes.

Wages barely covered rent and food, leaving little to support families still caught in uncertainty. With no formal contracts or protections, work could disappear overnight, compounding their vulnerability in an unfamiliar city. Many encountered routine discrimination and social isolation, reinforcing their marginal position even in spaces of refuge. As more migrants arrived, competition for housing and jobs intensified, stretching already limited resources. But the need and logic of survival dictated that they hang on to their borrowed spaces, even if tenuously, even as they yearn to return, recast, and rebuild in the soil that they came from.

In many parts of Madhya Pradesh, a grain long hailed as a resilient “superfood” quietly turned into a source of dread. Kodo millet, a staple for Adivasi communities, has for generations symbolised food security in fragile, rain-fed landscapes. Yet for farmers like Reethi Bai of Khandwa district, that trust was shattered when a harvest in 2016 left her family violently ill. The incident marked a profound rupture: a crop once synonymous with sustenance became a potential poison, forcing her to abandon its cultivation despite its deep cultural and ecological roots.

The story by Ground Report reflects a wider, largely invisible crisis. Under certain conditions, say scientists from the Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, kodo millet, and some other species like groundnuts, can harbour fungal toxins that are undetectable without scientific testing, rendering entire harvests hazardous. For small farmers with minimal institutional support, this unpredictability carries severe consequences—health risks, income loss, and a collapse of confidence in traditional crops. Despite repeated appeals, responses from authorities have remained limited, leaving communities to navigate the risks alone. The narrative ultimately reveals not just a failing crop, but a failing system where vulnerability is intensified by neglect.

For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.

Warmly,

Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF